Window guide



Oct. 20, 1942- A. RYDQUIST WINDOW GUIDE Filed Nov. 22, 1940 INV NTOR' WW '1" j r/llll qg/azpk BY I Patented Oct. 20, 1942 WINDOW GUIDE Adolph Rydquist, Rochester, N. Y., assignor to The Schlegel Manufacturing Company,

Rochester, N.

Y., a corporation of New York Application November 22, 1940, Serial No. 366,688

2 Claims.

This invention relates to window guides or channels and more particularly to a combined window guide and weather stripping adapted to be readily bent to conform to a curved contour, such as that presented by the window framing of an automobile or other conveyance.

Curved and irregularly shaped window and door openings are now in common usage on automobiles. The window guide and weather stripping must, of course, be bent to correspond to the curvature of the frame or casing of the window. Various manufacturers and various models of the same manufacturer may employ different window frame contours. In order that the window guide and weather stripping may be of standard construction and adapted to be used with any shape of Window opening, it is desirable that it be readily bendable and capable of being shaped to conform to the opening during its application to the frame.

Such window guides and weather stripping are commonly made of a core of sheet metal in channel or U-shape which carries a cushioning material such, for example, as a long pile fabric on the inner surface thereof. When the channel is bent to conform to the contour of the window frame I have found that the displacement or bending of the core occurs substantially entirely at the outside of the curve which causes the cushioning material carried by the channel to pucker at the sides and pull away from the base of the channel or U. Moreover, the core tends to bend non-uniformly and sometimes excessively at one point. A workman in conforming the guide or channel to the frame is required to exercise considerable care, during the bending operation, not only to secure a good fit between the guide and the frame, but also to prevent the guide from bending excessively at one point and perhaps breaking.

An object of my invention is, therefore, to provide a combined window guide and weather stripping which may be more readily bent to conform to the curved contour of a window frame.

Another object of my invention is to provide a window guide and weather stripping which is of simple construction, relatively inexpensive to manufacture, sturdy in use, and easy to install.

A further object of my invention is to provide a window guide and weather stripping wherein the entire displacement or bending of the core, as it is conformed to the contour of the window frame, does not occur along the base or at the outside of the curve of the core or channel.

My invention further contemplates a window to a window casing.

Other objects and advantages of my invention will be pointed out in the claims and will be apparent from the description, when taken in connection with the following drawing, in which:

Fig. 1 is a plan View of a section of strip material cut and shaped preparatory to bending it into channel form;

Fig. 2 is a View showing the channel or window guide of my invention curved in a shape which it may be caused to assume by bending it to conform to a window frame;

Fig. 3 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 3-3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a top plan View of the channel shown in Figs. 2 and 3, and

Fig. 5 is a sectional view taken substantially on the line 55 of Fig. 1.

The core of the window guide and weather stripping of my invention comprises a thin sheet or strip I I (Fig. 1) preferably of metal, and preferably of a metal as, for example, steel or brass which in thin sheets is pliant and may be readily bent to conform to a desired shape. However, the strip'preferably is of a rigidity sufficient to retain, under normal conditions of use, a desired shape after being bent.

The strip ll comprises a pair of sections l2 and a section l3. After the metal is bent into channel or U shape the sections l2 become the arms of the U, and the section l3 the base of the U. The strip prior to bending into channel shape is corrugated, as indicated at I4, in a direction transversely of the strip. While the corrugations may extend from one longitudinal edge of the strip to the other, preferably they are provided only in the arm sections l2 of the channel, as indicated in the drawing. This may be accomplished either by corrugating only the sections l2 or by corrugating the entire strip from one longitudinaledge to the other and then fiattening out the corrugations in the section I3.

Cut in the base section [3 of the channel are a plurality of cut-outs or slots I6 Which extend transversely at spaced intervals along the channel. When bent into channel shape the edges I! (Fig. 2) are rather rigid. It is important that the slots shall extend just beyond these edges and partway down the sides or arms of the U, as indicated in Figs. 2 and 3, so as to prevent the edges from forming a structure too rigid to enable the channel to be freely bent to a desired curvature. For a purpose which will later appear, it is also extremely desirable that the slots It shall extend only just beyond the edges l1 and not to any substantial extent along the arms of the channel or U.

The cushioning element for the window may be of any desired material and construction. I prefer, however, to employ a single strip of cushioning material 13 having a pile surface l9. While one entire surface of the cushioning material may be provided with a pile, I prefer to provide a material in which the pile exists in three zones, as shown in Fig. 3.

For the purpose of confining or supporting the cushioning material or fabric [8, I provide along each longitudinal free edge of the arms of the U, a clamping element or bead 2| which may be suitably substantially circular in cross section. Preferably the bead is of metal and of a material which may be readily bent and retained in shape, after being bent, in the form desired. For the purpose of confining the bead, the longitudinal edges of the arms of the channel or U are upset or provided with lines of protuberances 22 and 22 which are raised above the plane of the tops of the corrugations. If desired, instead of providing lines of protuberances the metal along the edges may be crimped or indented.

In applying the beads, the pile fabric is drawn smooth and its edges confined along the inside edges of the channel, as shown at 23 by one longitudinal edge of the bead. Both longitudinal edges of the bead are lodged behind the lines of protuberances 22 and 22'. Thus the beads are prevented from being displaced with respect to the channel. Of particular importance, as will later appear, is the fact that the arms of the U are to shift with respect to the beads. That is, the beads, while clamped sufficiently to hold the pile fabric in position, are not clamped so tightly as to prevent a shifting of the arms of the channel or U with respect to the beads.

It will thus be apparent that the pile fabric is loosely held in position in the channel, and while the beads hold the fabric in position, the arm of the U are free to shift with respect, to the beads. In bending the channel to conform to a curved contour, by reason of the corrugations, part of the deflection caused by the bending will occur toward the outside of the curve, as indicated at 24 in Fig. 2. Thus the corrugations will expand along the outside of the curve. At the inside of the curve, as along the line 26, the corrugations will contract together and the core to compensate for this contraction will shift with respect to the bead. In bending the channel or U there will thus be a neutral axis 2'! lying approximately between the bottom and top edges of each arm of the U at which no expansion or contraction will occur.

The importance of the above arrangement lies particularly in the fact that, when the deflection or bending of the channel occurs entirely at the outside of the curve, the pile fabric tends to pucker and pull away from the bottom of the channel. By corrugating the arms of the channel or U, slotting the base of the channel or U, and per mitting the arms of the U to slip with respect to the heads, a portion of the deflection of the material caused by bending the channel occurs along the line 26 and results in a contraction of the corrugations along this line. This minimizes the deflection which would normally be required at the outside of the curve.

It will be particularly noted that the slots in the base of the channel or U, while of sufiicient extent to break the edges of the channel to permit ready bending of the channel, do not extend down the arms of the U to any great extent. If they extended substantially to the longitudinal edges of the arms, all of the deflection of the material caused by bendin would occur adjacent the base of the U.

Moreover, the corrugations are so arranged and the material is such that the corrugations do not add rigidity to the side walls to prevent free bending of the channel. Instead the corrugations aid in the ease with which the channel may be conformed to a desired shape, since they permit an expansion of the corrugations adjacent the base, as along the line 24, and a contraction of the corrugations adjacent the edges of the arms as along the line 26.

While I have described the preferred form of my invention, it will be apparent that various changes and modifications may be made therein, particularly in the form and relation of parts, without departing from the spirit of my invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. A window guide comprising a generally U- shaped body of sheet metal having a base intermediate a pair of opposing arms, said base having spaced slots extendin transversely thereof and around the corners of said body slightly into said arms, to render said base extensible for curving said guide, said arms being formed with corrugations to render the same flexible, said corrugations extending substantially continuously from the free edges thereof to the ends of said slots, so that in curving the guide to conform to a curved window contour, said corrugations may expand on one side and contract on the other side of a substantially neutral axis extending along the longitudinal center of each arm, and a relatively soft material on the inner faces of said body for cushioning contact with the window.

2. A window guide comprising a generally U- shaped body of sheet metal having a base intermediate a pair of opposing arms, said base having spaced slots extending transversely thereof and around the corners of said body and only slightly into said arms, to render said base extensible for curving said guide, said arms being formed with corrugations to render the same flexible, said corrugations extending continuously from the free edges thereof to the ends of said slots, so that, in curving the guide to conform to a curved window contour, said corrugations expand adjacent said base and contract adjacent said arm edges, with a substantially neutral axis along the longitudinal center of each arm, said metal being formed to provide shoulder means along the free edges of said arms, a relatively soft material on the inner faces of said body and conforming in shape thereto, for cushioning contact with the window, and a flexible, tubular bead embracing and uniting the free edges of said arms and cushioning material and retained thereon by said shoulder means.

ADOLPI-I- RYDQUIST. 

